Quick Science Column

  • Solubility of small molecules in organic solvents
Ever shortended your telomeres (that means getting angry) over trying to dissolve few µg of your expensive organic compound in organic solvents? Think about Hildebrand solubility parameters and the Köhler theory and then try again. If not satisfied, try UNIQUAC or COSMO-RS.
  • Cryoproteins and Cryoglobulines and antifreeze proteins

Ever wondered why you stumbled over a frozen frog in winter? And why plants (grass) and animals (winter flunder) can survive in the arctic? Proteins can change their conformation with temperature or with changing microenvironments (pH, water). In humans the precipitation of proteins (< 37°) is connected to several diseases (cold allergy) [Lit1] (myeloma, renal failure) [Lit2].

  • Programs for de-novo peptide identification

Ever tried to find a comprehensive list of de-novo peptide sequencing programs in January 2005? Here it is: EigenMS, Lutefisk, Peaks, PepNovo, AuDeNS, Sherenga, BioAnalyst, SeqMS, RapiDeNovo, DeNovoX, seqpep, MassSeq.
Now give it a try: all de-novo sequencing programs (told you so :-)

  • Protein crystallization robots with automated crystal image detection

Ever got bored by manual protein crystallization, trying out a dozen different conditions (buffer, ph, temperature...) for a couple of days? Hey, there are robots for 96 well plates like Agincourt (Syrrx) , Oryx 6 (Douglas) and the Structural GenomiX high-throughput crystallization robot. Using Design of Experiment (DOE) ~3000 crystallization experiments can be done per hour(!). Crystals are automatically detected by image processing software using supervised learning methods.

  • Melamine and Cyanuric acid food testing

Ever wondered about a quick test for melamine with your pocket GC-MS (miniature GC-MS or DESI or DAPI, MINI 10, MINI 11) before lunch. The FDA provides a complete standard operating procedure [Melamine Test] [Melamine GC-MS]. In the aftermath of the pet food, milk and cookie scandal diluted (poison for kids, dogs and cats) with melamine this becomes a standard test for testing labs. A complete and interesting story from Bryan Gamble presented at COSMOS 2008 including DART MS can be found here [Melamine DART].
Cyanuric acid - InChIKey: ZFSLODLOARCGLH-UHFFFAOYAR and melamine InChIKey: JDSHMPZPIAZGSV-UHFFFAOYAF